Integrating Quality Conference 2020

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ABOUT
The twelfth annual Association of American Medical Colleges’ Integrating Quality Conference is a highly interactive, interprofessional conference focused on sharing innovative approaches and strategies for improving health care quality, patient safety, and high-value care through health professions education, care delivery, and research. This year’s theme, Envisioning the Future of Health, Health Care, and Education, will stimulate and spur on academic medicine’s national dialogue and spread of pragmatic clinical, operational, and educational strategies, tactics, and tools toward improving the health of all.

This 2-day conference will offer engaging plenary sessions, interactive workshops, presentations, and poster sessions. There will be ample opportunities for leaders, faculty, educators, and learners to network and learn new ways to advance initiatives in their institutions, in their community, and beyond.

Registration and Conference Program Information
If selected, presenters and poster session participants are responsible for registering in advance for the conference, paying the registration fee, and securing and paying for travel and lodging. Registration information and the conference program will be available online in March 2020. Registration fees will be similar to those from the 2019 conference (www.aamc.org/iq2019). An early-bird registration fee will be available.

Call for Abstracts: Topic Areas
AAMC seeks proposals for posters, interactive workshops, and presentations on improving health, health care quality, patient safety, and high-value care within the clinical learning environment; competency-based curricula on quality and safety across the educational continuum with an emphasis on successful strategies in care delivery; and research in health professions schools, teaching hospitals, and health care systems. This year’s overarching topics and examples of proposal ideas are included below. Submissions typically focus on educational or clinical initiatives, research projects, operational issues, or other evidence-based practice efforts at the national, regional, multi-institutional, or single institution levels. Proposals should aim to enhance attendees’ knowledge, skills, and/or abilities. Submissions will be accepted from personnel at teaching hospitals, health care systems, health professions schools, and health professions associations or boards. Submissions from educational companies or other commercial entities must be submitted through the partner hospital or university/school involved in the activity.

1. Envisioning the Future of Health, Health Care, and Education
Imagine potential solutions to the problems we face in the clinical and educational environment. We are looking for cutting edge initiatives and solutions aimed at closing the gap of today’s major challenges across the health continuum. Examples of proposal topics include but are not limited to:
• Addressing the gaps in population health measurement and improvement
• Health challenges related to social justice – climate change, access, diversity and inclusion, sustainable health care
• Engaging patients, families, and communities in activities that address social determinants of health
• Connecting patient care across the continuum using interoperable technology and virtual care strategies, such as telehealth, to improve health
• Successful organizational approaches to enable more rapid testing and scaling of promising clinical delivery innovations that improve quality while controlling costs
2. Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
The know-how and skills to improve quality and patient safety in health care today can be promoted in the clinical learning environment across the clinical care delivery, educational, and research continuums. Examples of proposal topics include but are not limited to:
• Using data (e.g. performance, clinical, financial, population health, and/or patient experience) for improvement
• Using technology to drive clinical quality improvement and improve safety in the clinical learning environment
• Quality improvement activities and organizational strategies designed to improve health care equity and address disparities
3. High-Value Care
The goal of high-value health care is to produce the best health outcomes and experience at the lowest cost. Health care professionals are increasingly incentived to deliver high-value care by virtue of payment reform measures as pay-for-performance policies, bundled-payment strategies, global budgets, and financial risk sharing within accountable care organizations. Examples of proposal topics include but are not limited to:
• Engaging health professionals in sustainable local value improvement initiatives to reduce waste
• Advancing care delivery models that improve care, increase affordability, and reduce overall costs
• Novel practices and payment models demonstrating the shift from volume to value
• Establishing formal innovation centers and leadership roles to help accelerate the transition to new high-value care delivery and payment models
4. Bridging Leadership
Bridging leaders are professionals with leadership roles in academic medical centers that align the educational and the clinical quality and safety missions of their organizations. Their work synergizes educational and clinical programs that improve the quality and safety of patient care and span the spectrum of medical education and the health care system. Examples of proposal topics include but are not limited to:
• Evaluation of programs developed by bridging leaders that align the educational and quality/safety missions of their institutions
• Career development for bridging leaders
• Curricular innovations that highlight ways to enhance clinical learning environments to improve engagement of learners in quality and safety
• Innovations that engage interprofessional staff, learners, and faculty in organizational improvement of health systems performance
5. Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Competency-Based Education Across the Continuum
While education in quality improvement (QI) and patient safety (PS) is now endorsed at all levels of medical education and professional training, the specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for students, residents, and faculty in the disciplines of QIPS have not been fully realized in academic medicine. Examples of proposal topics include but are not limited to:
• Innovative quality improvement medical educational programs or assessment strategies that align with the QIPS competencies
• Educational programs or strategies designed to integrate health equity concepts into medical education
• Innovative practices that teach, reinforce, and/or assess quality improvement and patient safety for students, residents, and/or faculty
• Novel approaches to implementing any of the QIPS competency domains with special consideration give to those focused on faculty CME or ongoing professional practice evaluation (OPPE) and at a systems level

Session Formats
The conference will feature several session formats to deliver learning opportunities, including poster presentations, oral presentations, and interactive workshops. The Abstract Review Committee may recommend modifications to the session format or content to deliver the best programming possible.

• Oral and Poster Presentations: Submitting author may designate whether to be considered for 1) oral presentation only; 2) poster presentation only; or 3) either oral or poster presentation. Abstracts considered for either type of presentation ideally address topics that appeal to a broad cross-section of the audience to spark conversation among participants. They should describe a quality improvement or patient safety initiative, educational intervention, or research project that should include sound methodology and a clear description of results and lessons learned. Authors accepted for oral presentation will be grouped with other presenters in a moderated session. At least one author must attend the conference to present during the designated oral or poster presentation session time (registration will be required).
• Interactive Workshops: Workshops should be designed to engage the audience in a focused learning, skill-oriented interactive experience. For each workshop, some presentation content is acceptable but the emphasis should be on engaging with the audience and aimed at filling a current gap in knowledge or practice. Case studies, simulation, small group exercises, and sharing of tools and resources is strongly encouraged. Workshops will be allotted 75 minutes. AAMC suggests having a minimum of two but no more than four facilitators/ presenters for this type of session.